I don't think I'm being the slightest bit hyperbolic in saying that Ram Man is not only the most eagerly anticipated figure of 2013, but possibly of the entire line since its first full year. Due to his unusual shape and size fans were asking about him from the get-go, and his friendly, dumb, and distinctive persona made a huge dent in the fandom. He was a fun figure to play with, and a friendly face on the cartoon. Dumb as a sack of hammers, sure - but would the Shokoti episodes be anywhere near as fun without him? I submit they would not. The good news is that the figure looks more or less exactly as good as you would have hoped. The bad news is that Mattel made him as promised, and the lack of a battering function makes me a little sad. Granted, this doesn't matter, as he sells for a ton on eBay and sold out in under ten minutes.

At about 7-inches tall, Ram Man is a rarity in that he's a completely new, 100% made-of-new-parts action figure. While wide, he could have fit in the standard-sized packaging... it would be an extremely tight fit, so instead Mattel opted to make a slightly larger cardback so he wouldn't have to be cramped, which leads to rubbed elbows, which leads to tears and much sorrow.

The figure has two heads, giving you more options than you would have asked for in the first place. The default head is helmeted, while the alternate one is just a cap over his skull giving you a look at the exquisitely ugly mug on Krass. (That's his real name now, by the way.) The blonde warrior is squinting, with a wrinkly face complete with large, presumably chapped lips. It's no wonder he normally keeps all of this under a helmet. The detail that the Four Horsemen sculpted into his noggin is incredible, streets ahead of what we saw in the 1983 and 2003 releases of the character.

Not to be outdone is the body, which builds on the already strong design work of the 1983 original with a large skull belt buckle, massive silver shoulder armor, and even the clip on the back to carry his axe for when he's punching things. It's remarkable. Rather than wear snap-on outfits like most of the other figures, the red part of his upper torso is his body, complete with ab crunch joint. The silver part is glued on, and somehow they made his belt look like an actual belt - complete with a bit hanging off the side. Nice. His green legs look like springs, just like the original, except now they bend at the knee and have lateral movement at the hips. Depending on how you count, Rammy has at least 19 points of articulation. It's a wonder that it's only a couple of bucks higher than a standard figure given how much newness is here, which makes me wonder if we could get a ton of other all-new figures for an extra $3-$5 per. Not that we'd need to, for consistency's sake, but it has me hopeful for a few future unmade figures.

While I really do miss the old action feature, I can just buy an original Ram Man figure and I think I might do just that. The new figure is pretty stunning, with wonderfully painted rivets, rippling muscles, massive fists, and awesome boots. The soles have little skulls on them! The detail work here is really stupendous, and I'm glad Mattel pushed him until we were in a year where shortcuts simply were not an option for this character. If you collect this line, I'm very sorry if you missed it. Hopefully Matty saved a few units to sell at a later date, you'll want to get this one.

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